Duke Garlford… he was a… troublesome man. The first time I met him was when I was still a young woman, trying my best to do what was expected of me, and part of that was being a representative of the Faith in the face of nobility. This old man here was one of those… and he was one of the ones I despised the most.

The only reason he wasn’t ‘expunged’ for being an evil man was because he was one of the most powerful men in the Empire, mostly in influence and in forces that could rival my influence. And also… because he did everything that was asked of him, and nothing that broke the law of the land or of the Gods. In other words, it was just a personal issue I had with the man.

As for why I had that issue… He was the one that I had to put up the ‘cute maiden’ act for. It wasn’t that he demanded it, but rather that when asked how to make a man fall for you and make him do whatever you want, that was the plan that was devised to achieve that. In the end, I couldn’t do it, and I just beat him up in his own room for trying to put a hand on me.

Somehow… he liked that I did that, and afterwards, he placed his forces and loyalty under me and the Empire.

He was still dressing the same way that he dressed back in our world, with none of this world’s clothing on him. His head was now full of gray hairs, and his face was drawn with many more wrinkles than the last time I saw him.

I was also amazed to see that he brought his family with him. Starting with the son, Joseph Ba’as Garlford. He was the one that I liked in that family, simply because he had the honor that was expected of a knight. It was still reflected in his fit body and youthful appearance—one that he still had even after fighting in the Final War. As for his age, he was about the same age as me, if not slightly younger—though that was before, right now, he’s probably older than me, as seen by the couple of children that were sitting on a couch with whom I assume was their mother.

There was no memory of those three, however, since the young master of the house had refused for as many years as I can remember to ever marry a woman. But it was surprising to see him pick a woman that didn’t stand out for her beauty. There were plenty of beautiful women that desired him not only for his power, but also for how handsome he was.

This woman wasn’t at all like the expected beauty that the nobles always looked for, which was girls with fair, smooth skin, tiny waist, long legs, and plentiful bust. She was… as if he had married a common woman. She wasn’t even wearing the expensive noble clothes that women in these circles liked to wear, and her makeup wasn’t nearly as heavy as them either.

She had bright blonde hair, a small nose, big blue eyes, and a friendly smile on her face that was trying to hide the surprise in her eyes. If I were to say anything about her, it’s that she was just a normal woman, just like every woman one would see on the roads; she was even wearing a similar simple dress like the one that Nicole was wearing just yesterday, with a tiny golden chain around her neck.

The children were like the mother as well. The older one was a boy, dressed in elegant clothes that I couldn’t quite tell if they were from the Empire’s design or this world’s design. It was like a combination of both. He was looking curiously our way, but remained quiet.

The other one was a younger girl who was sitting next to the supposed mother. She was just like the boy, with golden hair, and blue eyes; wearing a dress not too different from the mother’s, and looking at everyone in the room with confusion.

“Hm? Don’t you remember me?” Duke Garlford asked, tilting his head to the side.

With a sigh, I nodded my head. “I do, Duke Garlford.”

He smiled widely when I said his name and walked closer to me with his arms spread wide. I glared back at him, and he stopped a couple of steps away with a wide smile frozen on his face. He might not be thinking about giving me a hug, but I was certainly not going to allow him to get close to do so.

“Still as tough as always…” he said with a whisper.

There was a moment of awkward silence as me and the Duke looked at each other, but after a moment, it was broken by one of the children. The boy was grabbing Joseph’s pants and looking up to him.

“Is she really the Hero?” he asked, turning his eyes to me. “She looks scary.”

“Ah, yes she is—though…” he trailed off, giving me a look from top to bottom. I could already guess what he was thinking. “You don’t look quite as… holy as you used to be.”

“Right, right!” the Duke followed up with a nod. “I heard from a few of the servants that someone with an evil aura was allowed to walk into the Imperial Palace, and after hearing the descriptions, I could hardly believe my ears!”

“Why are you here?” I asked, since I was supposed to meet with the Emperor, not with an annoying noble.

He chuckled, seemingly amused by my threatening tone. “I had to see for myself if the love of my life was truly back in my world.”

I couldn’t help the feeling of disgust from not showing in my face as I scowled at the old man who still thought that there was a chance with me. And just like the expression I was making, the people in the room shared a similar sentiment, with the mother of the children giving an awkward smile, Nicole looking completely surprised, and Joseph slapping his face in embarrassment.

“Father…” he whispered with his face hidden.

“What? It’s clear that I’m meant to be with the Hero of the Holy Gods, as They gave me the power, the strength, and even the fate to place her in my path!” he exclaimed, turning to look at his son as if he had stated a fact. “As you very well know, I’m the only one that she’s ever tried to seduce”—he quickly turned to look at me with a smile—“isn’t that right?”

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

“What?!” Nicole exclaimed, and quickly looked up to me with even more surprise, “Y-you’ve tried to do that?! Seduce someone?!”

I sighed and shook my head. “That was a mistake. It wasn’t necessary at all.”

Duke Garlford chuckled while rubbing his shadow of a beard. “But it still happened.”

I once more looked at him with disgust. There was a desire within me to cut him down for the person that he was, but again—and like every time I saw him—I had to hold myself back… simply because he was one of the very few nobles that did try his best for the people.

“Mommy,” the girl said as she looked up at the woman. “Is grandpa going to marry?”

“Oh dear,” she replied with a soft voice and a worried smile. “That’s not something we can talk about.”

Ignoring what she said, Duke Garlford loudly laughed, giving the little girl a thumbs-up. “It might just happen! We’re in a different world, and I even allowed my son to get married with whoever he wanted, so of course, I can marry myself to the Hero of the Holy Gods!”

“Father, please. It’s obvious just by looking at Her Radiance Althea that she neither wants to marry you or even be near you—Besides,” Joseph said, looking at the armor, and then at Nicole. “She’s still got a mission to accomplish. You know she’s here to speak with His Majesty.”

“Bah!” Duke Garlford exclaimed, throwing his hands up in the air in a dismissive manner. “I’m not going to allow His Majesty to get the better of me. If the Hero wants it, then she can even go above his laws and orders, and do whatever she wants—be that marry me or not.”

Once more, Joseph sighed, before giving me a tight-lipped smile. “I’m sorry for father's behavior… I was hoping that if I came with him, he wouldn’t do or say those sorts of things, but he didn’t show a single hair of restraint…”

“You were the one that wanted to be free to do as you pleased with your girl Loretha, so I’m free to do as I please as well,” Duke Garlford replied, still not realizing—or willfully ignoring—how uncomfortable most of us were in the room.

I glanced at the servants inside, but none of them were looking at me, and the Head Butler simply gave me a small shrug. It was clear that they didn’t have the power to remove the Duke, even if I wanted to.

“Come on, father, you already saw what you wanted. We should leave and allow them to prepare to meet with His Majesty,” Joseph said, taking a step next to Duke Garlford.

However, the Duke just scoffed. “Hey, I was doing her a favor. Don’t you know that all the other nobles and people of high standing are already gathering? What better preparation than that of having me before all of those snakes.”

That was something I didn’t know. I was expecting to meet with the emperor in private, without anyone else besides Nicole, Asteora, Oliver, and a few guards. “What do you mean? Do the other nobles know about this?”

“Yes, of course!” Duke Garlford said, “It wasn’t hard to know that something odd was going on when someone released dark powers in the middle of the palace.”

“I wasn’t aware…” I said, giving a glance at Oliver.

He put on a wry smile. “Well, that was something that I didn’t know either… As you might have noticed, the people in here don’t use modern technology as much, so getting that kind of information while we were coming here wasn’t possible—at least for me.”

“Then, does that mean that we’ll be in a large hall with all of the nobles from the empire present as well!?” Nicole exclaimed, and I could see her backing away as if she wanted to run away.

“Hm?” Duke Garlford replied, turning his eyes on Nicole. “I didn’t notice you before. Who might you be?”

“Ah!” Nicole exclaimed, “I’m Nicole Lain, currently learning under Asteora. Nice to meet you.”

“Lady Asteora’s new disciple, huh…” Joseph said, having a closer look at Nicole. “I wonder what kind of warrior you are…”

Nicole covered herself slightly due to the way she was being looked at, but again, I took a step to the side to cover her from the young master’s gaze. “She’s just here to accompany us. Nothing more. Please don’t try anything strange with her.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it,” Joseph replied, taking a step back, before placing a hand on Duke Garlford’s shoulder. “Let us go already. I’m sure that they have much to think about with the knowledge that both the nobles and His Majesty want to meet with them.”

“Fine, fine,” the old man said with an unwilling tone, brushing away the hand that was on his shoulder, before giving me a wide smile. “We shall meet once more—and don’t you worry, I’ll keep all of those snakes at bay, so you enjoy your time here.”

It was true that Duke Garlford was very reliable. His troops and resources were the first and most plentiful whenever they were needed. I believe he even placed himself in danger due to how much he was spending. Not that it bothered me, since it was all for the Holy Gods and a world without darkness.

I was thankful for all of that, but I just wish I didn’t have to meet the man himself. As I was thinking those things, the Duke’s family stood from their place and started quietly leaving the room, with the young master’s wife stopping for a moment to look at me with a smile.

“It’s a pleasure to meet someone like you,” she said, the child in her arms looking confused at her mother. “I hope that your Holy Radiance blesses our lives.”

Without thinking too much about it, I waved my hand in the air with my index finger pointing at her head then going down to her chest and finally back to the head. It was a simple motion I used to do to give people some blessings. Sometimes, I used a bit of healing magic mixed with Holy Power to make people feel good about the meeting, but usually it was enough to just do the gesture.

“Thank you so much!” the woman exclaimed, catching me by surprise, since I had done that almost out of reflex. “Can you also give a blessing to my children? They—”

“No!” Joseph exclaimed, catching both the mother and me by surprise. He quickly realized what he did, so he cleared his throat and approached his wife while placing his hands on her shoulders. “Sorry, I meant to say that there’s no need for that. We’re already burdening the Holy Hero enough, so let's leave it for later, okay?”

The mother seemed unwilling, but since Joseph was already pushing her away, there was no way for her to stay. “Okay… then we’ll meet you later.”

“Yes, yes,” Joseph followed, placing one of his hands on the Duke’s back. “Come on.”

I watched the family leave, but the Duke suddenly stopped by the door and look at me with a serious expression. There was a moment of confusion within me about what that could mean, but he suddenly changed his face to a confident smile and a thumbs up, before leaving while carrying that expression.

With a sigh and a shake of my head, I ignored what had happened and went over to sit—plop—on the couch I was using before. Nicole followed soon after, sitting next to me while carrying a wry smile.

“That was… interesting,” she said.

“Yes… I just hope that the meeting with the Emperor won’t be this annoying…” I said, but I already knew that the same thing was going to happen with that boy.

“Eh… well, who knows… the Duke didn’t seem to be such a bad guy…” Nicole said, relaxing herself on the couch. “Maybe it’s not that bad either. We should try to—”

“Your Radiance Althea,” a maid said as she walked into the room, causing us to look at her. “His Majesty is ready for you.”